She Never Said Goodbye
by Sarah1281
Summary: The Blight is over, Sereda Brosca lay dead, and Rica needs to find some way to deal with it. This would be a lot easier to handle if her last encounter with her sister hadn't involved disowning her. Rica knew she would never be able to make this right.


She Never Said Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Rica Brosca was a warrior well on her way to becoming a noble and yet she had never felt so worthless as when she stared down at her little sister lying motionless on a stone slab with a clearly grieving human King delivering her eulogy.

Sereda was dead.

It wasn't like Rica hadn't known this for weeks but there was a stark difference between just knowing something like that and actually seeing it for herself. She'd once heard that seeing was believing but she'd never realized how true that was until today. She had never been to the Surface and had never expected to but she couldn't even properly appreciate it or fear it or really have any other strong reaction due to the terrible numbness that had settled around her the minute she had heard that her sister was dead.

She had just returned from the short visit she had been allowed with her son – little Endrin was growing up so fast and looking more like his father by the day – to find an urgent message from King Harrowmont summoning her to the Palace. It had hardly been her first time there, her son had even been born there, but she had never before received an official summon. She honestly hadn't known what to expect. She had been living in fear of Harrowmont ever since he had stepped over Prince Bhelen's corpse to take the throne and she had hated him for months before then for the vicious lies he had spread about Bhelen. She feared he was going to do something to her or her child but Harrowmont had merely looked at her sadly and told her that the Blight was over. Sereda had ended it. Sereda had died. Sereda had posthumously been raised to the warrior caste and now she was one as well. The Assembly was considering making her a Paragon and it was very likely that the motion would pass.

Rica had stood there feeling sick as the news sunk in. Sereda was a hero now and had saved them all but it had cost her her life…and the sisters had parted on such bad terms.

It wouldn't have been so badly, really, if the last time that Rica had seen her sister was when Duncan was offering her a way to not only escape the automatic death sentence the Shaper had in mind for her for impersonating a member of a higher caste (Rica honestly didn't know what she'd been _thinking_ and now she never would and the irony of Sereda now holding the caste in question was bitter indeed) or the lifetime imprisonment Jarvia had in mind for her for embarrassing Beraht and costing him far more money than she could really comprehend before killing him. Rica had smiled warmly at her sister and told her that she'd be fine staying in Orzammar. She had told Sereda that she had her blessing and that she deserved to show the world that she was more than just a whore's little sister. Losing Sereda still would have killed her – Sereda had been the single most important person in her life from the day she was born until the day little Endrin had been – but it would have been easier. Their goodbye then had been a proper one.

But that hadn't been the last time the pair had seen each other. Sereda had returned triumphantly as a Grey Warden in the middle of the nastiest noble fight Rica had ever heard of. Little Endrin's grandfather had returned to the Stone and that beastly Harrowmont had tried to keep Bhelen off of his rightful throne. Rica had been so happy to see her sister and the feeling was clearly mutual as they reunited in the _Diamond Quarter_, a place Rica had only rare been to and never expected to live at and in which they both now belonged. The joy of their reunion had quickly faded, however, when Sereda had refused to go see Vartag Gavorn and help her Prince win back his throne.

Rica hadn't been able to believe what she was hearing. Her beloved baby sister, the girl she would have done anything for growing up and would still have done anything that didn't go against little Endrin's best interest was refusing the only thing Rica had ever really asked of her. Sereda made no secret of the fact that she had a life on the Surface – and a human, too, as strange as Rica had found that – and no intention of ever calling Orzammar home again. What, then, did the outcome of the election mean to her? Rica, on the other hand, was dependent on Bhelen and their son needed his father to win as well. Sereda had started to say something about how Bhelen was a Kinslayer but Rica hadn't wanted to hear it.

She had heard that being whispered from practically the moment that Sereda had left. Bhelen's brother, Prince Reidin, had murdered their eldest brother Prince Trian and been exiled for it and people suspected _Bhelen_ of being involved? She knew him and she knew that he would never do that. Family was everything to him and what had happened and the toll it had take on his father had devastated him. Maybe she had just been a casteless but **she** had been the one to sit with him for weeks while he cried. What did any of those power-hungry nobles know about it? What did Sereda, for that matter? Rica knew that her sister would never knowingly perpetuate such vicious lies and so it was clear that somehow she had been convinced that Bhelen really was a Kinslayer – and some said a Kingslayer although that was just as false as the first charge – and she was trying to do what was right. Sereda _always_ tried to do what was right.

Rica had tried to get through to her sister, she had tried so hard to make her see the truth about the nobles, about Bhelen, and about Harrowmont but Sereda wouldn't listen to reason. She had merely smiled sadly and declared her support for Harrowmont's candidacy. Rica knew her sister better than anyone and so, logically, knew that she was operating under bad information. She should have stayed calm and kept trying to explain to Sereda how people were jealous, how Harrowmont had always hated Bhelen, how she had started to suspect that a lot of Harrowmont's supporters just wanted to get the Aeducans off the throne. Instead…instead she had reacted very, very badly and she would regret every harsh word for the rest of her life. Sereda was dead and she would never get the chance to apologize.

"_Do you do this just to taunt me?" _

No, Sereda had never really been cruel. Every vile deed she had done for the carta had been out of necessity and not malice. In Dust Town you did what you had to do. Sereda had loved her and the fact she had kept trying to talk to her wasn't motivated by the desire to prove that she was better than her still-casteless sister but because she hated that they were at odds.

"_You'd see Mother and me back in the streets and your nephew left fatherless?" _

Honestly, Rica had no idea whether or not Sereda would care if their mother was on the streets. Sereda been the one to deal with the brunt of their mother's dark side over the years as it had been _her_ father their mother was mourning and she didn't even have memories of a happier time to help her forgive like Rica did. Just the same, while Sereda hadn't known nearly everything Rica had done for her – and Rica would sooner die than let her see – she knew enough that she'd never dream of trying to hurt her or her son. Harrowmont hadn't so much as acknowledged her until he told her that Sereda was dead so either their new King's malice was more focused than she'd thought and her sister had realized this or Sereda had worked out a deal with him in exchange for the throne. Either way, Sereda's actions hadn't destroyed the new life Rica was building. Far from it.

"_Maybe if I'd let Mother sell you on the street you wouldn't be forcing my son there now!"_

She'd been horrified the moment she'd said it. Ever since she had been old enough to realize what her future would be she had been determined to do whatever it took to stop that from becoming Sereda's fate, too. Beraht was a vile snake but he had been…open for negotiations about Sereda's place in his employ. She had meant it when she said that she'd save Sereda from that and finally years of effort had paid off and Sereda had been welcomed into the carta. She would **never** have really wanted the life of a whore for her sister. Half of her had wanted to take it back the moment the words left her mouth but she'd been too angry to do so. Had Sereda known that she hadn't meant it or had she gone to her death thinking Rica genuinely would have done that?

"_Of course not. You're too busy destroying your only nephew's future!"_

Sereda had said that she hadn't wanted to argue, that she wished to explain. Rica hadn't wanted to hear it. What could possibly be a good enough reason for turning her back on her family right when they needed her most? What could be worth hurting her nephew's father and placing his future in jeopardy? It would be easier to understand if she could just know _why_. Sereda had tried to tell her but she hadn't listened and so she would go to her death not knowing.

"_You traitor! I have nothing to say to you. You are no longer my sister."_

That had to have been the worst thing she had said, even worse than telling her she should have let her become a whore like everyone had expected. She had outright disowned her own sister. In her defense, this was very shortly after hearing that not only had Sereda gone through with giving the crown to Harrowmont but she had also personally decapitated Bhelen. Sereda had flinched as if she'd been slapped and then turned and walked away with looking back. That had been the last thing she had ever said to Sereda. Rica had honestly never expected that to be the end for them.

Things hadn't turned out the way she had feared, either. Rica had truly loved Bhelen but she had loved her son more. As a warrior and future noble, she was now allowed to see her baby far more than she'd ever dreamed of. While Bhelen was alive she'd known that she had to keep his happy or else jeopardize her place in the palace but now, even though she was no longer in the palace but in another Aeducan estate, there was no chance of removing her. Bhelen would never commit to his heir and while Rica did understand not wanting to pick someone and then change his mind, now that he was dead her son was the heir to House Aeducan. He was really going to be alright and, oddly enough, things were actually going better than they would be had Bhelen still been among the living. In an odd sort of way, her sister had done her a favor.

She would never get a chance to tell her that, though. Sereda was dead.

Rica wasn't quite sure about the details as the human King had been very tight-lipped about it. Sereda had apparently given her life to slay the Archdemon and stop the Blight. Her sister had saved not only Ferelden but everyone else as well. The last time Rica had ever seen her she had denounced her and had been very cruel.

Rica was sure that Sereda would forgive her for what she did but she wasn't so sure that she'd be able to forgive herself.

Sereda was dead and Rica was just going to have to live with that.

Review Please!


End file.
